ACTIVITY has been seen at the Three Counties Hotel ahead of its demolition, as the building will be knocked down to make way for a new supermarket.

The plan is that the hotel in Belmont Road, Hereford, will be demolished to make way for a Lidl shop.

The question is when the demolition itself will happen. So far, the only recent sign of life has been a lorry arriving at the hotel with at least one workman spotted in the car park.

The hotel has been fenced off from the street with barriers ahead of the works taking place.

Hereford Times: Barriers have been put upBarriers have been put up (Image: Bridie Adams)

The lorry was labelled "Plywood", with no visible signs of the demolition work beginning as of yet.

The hotly anticipated decision on Lidl’s plan for a new discount supermarket on Hereford’s Belmont Road, replacing the Three Counties Hotel, proved to be a case study in how apparently unpopular planning applications can still come to be approved.

The eventual vote to approve it by Herefordshire Council’s planning committee on March 14, after more than two hours’ deliberation, came as a surprise and disappointment to many.

Over 40 objections had been lodged against the plan, while a previous larger scheme by the retailer was opposed by a petition of more than 1,100 signatures.

Local councillor Kevin Tillett told the meeting that locals’ big objection was the impact on traffic, and said the submitted traffic studies “beggar belief” as the A465 “can't absorb the traffic at the moment”.

The hotel had also been “an iconic and much-loved social hub” before its closure a year ago, he added.

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After its closure, it was used to house asylum seekers in Hereford from March last year in a contract with the Home Office.

The hotel was operated by Serco, a Home Office contractor, with Herefordshire Council working with local partners and the community and voluntary sector to support the asylum seekers coming to the county.

The asylum seekers, all of whom were men, were accommodated on a full-board basis, with support on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, along with security staff.

This prompted some local concerns at the time, dividing opinion and proving controversial.

All of the asylum seekers have since left the hotel.